| Ecuadorian environmentalist Luis Merino says he wants Calgary-based oil and gas company EnCana to leave his country and he’s coming to town this week to spread the message.
Merino, who will be giving a presentation in Calgary on March 25 along with Nadja Drost from the Toronto-based environ mental organization GlobalAware Canada, says EnCana’s oil and gas operations are damaging Ecuador’s fragile environment without any economic benefit for locals. He also claims that EnCana’s security force has become closely tied to the Ecuadorian military, which harasses and intimidates local people who oppose EnCana’s operations on behalf of the company.
"Myself and others think the company should leave," Merina says, through a translator.
EnCana spokesperson Florence Murphy takes issue with Merino’s claims. Murphy says EnCana always "operates to international oil and gas standards," regardless of the country.
"We work very hard wherever we go to ensure we’re minimizing the environmental footprint in the area where we operate," Murphy says.
She adds EnCana does have an agreement with Ecuador’s military "to ensure the safety of our people." However, Murphy says there’s a stipulation in the contract that human rights must be protected. She says EnCana is not aware of any situation where the military has intimidated or harassed people on the company’s behalf.
"We would take such a situation very seriously," she says.
She adds that the company employs locals whenever possible and has sponsored a variety of projects that benefit the local population.
Meanwhile Merino, who is the former director of environmental protection in Cuyabeno, Ecuador, says he’s seen EnCana’s operations firsthand. He says the company has polluted soil, water and air in the Cuyabeno region and harmed livestock. Locals are starting to demand compensation and environmental remediation, says Merino.
EnCana is the partial owner of a controversial new 500-kilometre pipeline that carries oil from the Amazon basin, over the Andes, to the Pacific Ocean.Nadja Drost of GlobalAware Canada says there was widespread opposition to the pipeline while it was being constructed. Now the concern has shifted to concern over oil exploration and development that will occur in order to fill the pipeline. Drost says 2.4 million hectares of Amazon rainforest could be affected by exploration and development.
"As a result (of the pipeline), oil companies are pursuing very aggressive policies of exploration deeper and deeper into the Amazon," says Drost.
Exploration and development in the Amazon basin will also negatively affect indigenous groups in the area, especially two or three groups that have never had any contact with the outside world, says Merino.
Environmentalists are also concerned about EnCana’s future plans within two of the country’s national parks, Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve and Yasuni National Park. Last year EnCana conducted seismic tests within Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve.
Drost says lax government regulations actually make it possible for oil and gas companies to operate in areas that are supposed to be protected.
She adds that even though EnCana isn’t breaking any laws in Ecuador, the company should hold itself to higher standards. Drost says endemic poverty and corruption make it next to impossible for a company to ethically operate out of Ecuador at the moment.
Drost and Merino will be speaking at the Carpenter’s Union Hall in Kensington on March 25 at 7 p.m. |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.